utility sink / pain cleanup questions

[Bryan Lisowski]

I would take an old cotton t shirt and make a top for the bucket. It will act as a strainer.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Mark, I first saw this on one of those morning talk shows on TV. You know, the ones where they put the cake in the oven, and after the commercial every one is eating cake. So I was skeptical till I tried it. Cheap fabric softener works as well as the famous brands. Choose which color you want, pink, or blue, makes no difference. A round gallon fabric softener bottle fits inside a one gallon paint can which has the lid ring removed.

[Stan Calow]

Bob, yes, I use sawdust and chips to solidify old latex paint enough to throw in the trash. It doesnt dry and there's no chemical reaction taking place - it just turns into a thick mush. But you're talking about mostly water. It would take a whole bunch of sawdust to sop that up.

You can use clay kitty litter too, but that gets expensive

[Bob Riefer]

At the Riefer Compound (ha!) we've been using quarantine time to organize sheds, basement, attic, shop etc. etc. etc. Found a bunch of long-spoiled latex paint cans, so this sawdust trick is going to get use right away.

As for the fabric softener tip, google agrees! Here's some step-by-steps that I found helpful (I'm sure trial and error would've worked too, but following a recipe doesn't hurt)

Source

Materials:

• 1/8 Cup Fabric Softener (you can buy it or make your own here!)
• 4 Cups of Warm Water
• Bowl or Bucket
• Paper Towel or Old Rag
• Dirty Paint Brush

Steps:

1. Remove as much paint as your can from your paint brush by brushing it along an old rag or paper towel. You want as little paint as possible still on your brush for a faster cleaning in the solvent.
2. Pour 1/8 Cup of Fabric Softener and 4 Cups of warm water into your bowl or bucket. Mix.
3. Swirl your paint brush in your mixture until you see paint starting to come off. The paint should settle to the bottom of the bucket.
4. Once your paint brush has been cleaned, rinse any remaining softener solution off by running your paint brush under water.
5. Dry your paint brush and remove any remaining solvent on a paper towel or old rag.
6. Reshape your paint brush bristles and store until you're ready to paint again.

If you'd like to make a bigger batch for more paint brushes or rollers scale to the following: 1 Gallon of warm water and 1/2 Cup of Fabric Softener. Mix two ingredients in a FIVE Gallon Bucket. Continue to follow steps above.


Edit: And, the filtering idea (either filter fabric or old cotton t-shirt)... I'll let you know if it helps/works soon. I'll have some painting tasks soon.